86 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



I have already directed attention to the extraordinary 

 abundance of bones of horses and reindeer at Solutre. Now, 

 with regard to the reindeer, thouoh the most useful of all 

 animals of the period to man, it was observed that only the 

 bones of the limbs, head, etc., were represented in the debris; 

 while, as regards the horse, those of the entire skeleton were 

 generally present, thus proving that the latter animal was 

 killed in the vicinity of the station, and not on the hunting 

 ground. On this exceptional condition of the horse-remains 

 at Solutre, Professor Toussaint, in a paper communicated to 

 the French Association for the Advancement of Sciences, 

 held at Lyon in 1878, maintained that the original owners of 

 these bones had been reared in a state of domestication. In 

 support of this theory he stated that the bones indicated 

 few old and still fewer young horses, most of them being 

 from five to seven years of age. But this fact M. Pietre- 

 ment ("Les Chevaux dans les Temps Prehistoriques et 

 Historiques," p. 94) regarded as most convincing evidence 

 against domestication; because in a troop of wild horses it 

 was always the most vigorous adults which occupied the 

 post of danger in the rear, so as to protect the younger and 

 weaker, and hence they were most liable to be caught. 

 Moreover, if these horses were really domesticated, and 

 simply reared to be slaughtered as required, it was not 

 necessary to keep them for seven years. At the end of 

 three or four years the animal was fully developed, and 

 more suitable for food then than at a more advanced age. 

 In opposition to M. Toussaint's argument, based on the 

 presence of the spinal vertebrae — the very absence of which 

 in other stations was the chief argument in support of their 

 non-domestication, — there is also something to be said. It 

 has been suggested that, in a district where horses evidently 

 flourished in great numbers, the animals were frequently 

 trapped and caught alive, and being easily cowed, could be 

 readily led to the station by a halter or bridle, so that it was 

 unnecessary to kill them on the hunting ground. Also, M. 

 Carl Vogt {Bull, de VInstitut G4nevois, 1869) holds that, 

 without the assistance of the domestic dog, it would be 

 impossible to keep a herd of reindeer or a troop of horses 



